


Not a Creature Was Stirring….Except for a Goblin

by Bowieschick4765



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-26 02:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bowieschick4765/pseuds/Bowieschick4765





	1. Chapter 1

“Due to inclement weather will be closing the office at 11:00 AM. Please be very careful on your way home as roads may be hazardous. Drive slowly and use caution please”.

Sarah read the standard ‘bad weather’ email and smiled, doing a little victory dance at her desk because it meant that she was getting to go home early. Her small office was windowless so she couldn’t see what the weather was like outside and wondered just how bad it was at that moment. Lucky for her she didn’t have much left to do for the day and could go ahead and wrap everything up and not be swamped when she returned. 

Early that morning the first big snow of the year for upper Nyack had started falling lightly right after she got to work. It was early December so bad weather there was not an unusual thing. It grew much heavier as each hour passed - now with big, fluffy flakes instead of the grainier ones peppering the ground. It raised enough attention that the managers decided to go ahead and close for the day.

Ten minutes before 11 AM Sarah hovered over her computer closing it down as her manager Andrea (Andi for short) came through the sea of cubicles outside of her office, shutting off lights on her way down the hallway. She had been so engrossed in finishing the last part of the stack of invoices that her co-workers leaving one by one went unnoticed. The sudden quietness was now apparent and reminded her it was time to leave too. 

Andi peeked around Sarah’s door “Hey, we’re the last 2 here. Are you almost ready to go?”

“I’m one step ahead of you!” Sarah replied, fully standing up putting on her coat and scarf. 

The door closed behind them locking the office and they walked into the parking lot where their cars were already covered and swept the snow off the windshields. “Be careful!” Sarah yelled over to Andi. 

“You too!” she yelled back as they both climbed into their cars. After warming up hers up, she drove off.

People had been scurrying to get home before it became impassable and now the streets were all but practically deserted. Making her way towards her cute little rental cottage, her path was almost completely devoid of any noticeable traffic lines so she carefully took her time. It was always better to be safe than sorry, well at least that’s what she heard from her father ever since she was a child.

Arriving home Sarah walked to her door crunching through the powdery snow, unlocked it and walked in. She tossed the keys onto the table by the door, shrugged off her coat and scarf and hung them up preparing to settle in. A huge mug of hot chocolate with a shot of peppermint schnapps to take the chill out of her body and relax her mind would be perfect! It would definitely warm her up.  


Winters in New York could be unpredictable especially during November and December but Sarah was always levelheaded enough to keep her pantry stocked with food just in case she was house bound a few days, and especially with hot chocolate – because she loved it so much. She guessed it always reminded her of being a little girl and when she would go out and play in the snow and come back in to warm up her father always made her a huge cup of it. There was no need to go out for anything so therefore no need for panic. She could change into her comfortable clothes and lay around the rest of the day and watch movies if that’s what she felt like doing.

Minutes later she emerged from her room dressed in long sleeves, flannel pajama pants and fuzzy socks on her feet. After going to the Kitchen and making her drink, she walked over to the large window, mug in hand, looking out over her wooded yard which was already covered by more than 4 inches of the white stuff. Becoming lost in thought she gazed at the peaceful scene before her contemplating how much things had changed in her life over the course of the last few years and how different she had become. At this point in her life she was finally right where she was meant to be, which made her smile - but it was just for the time being and she knew it. Her heart still yearned for something as it had for the past several years, but she wasn’t quite sure what it was. She already had gotten a great job right out of college and had awesome friends, plus she had found this lovely house to call home, so what was else was it that was calling out to her from the very distant edge of her conscience making her restless? Was it someTHING….or was it a certain someONE? 

She drew a long sigh. “Jareth” she said out loud to no one. Or at least she thought to no one.

It was no sooner than she said his name that out of Sarah’s sight a lone goblin peeked around her bedroom door, his eyes darting around seeking out his target. When he caught sight of her he cautiously tiptoed towards where she stood in the Living Room towards his usual hiding spot behind the couch and as soon as he knew he wouldn’t get caught he moved a little closer to watch her. Her back was to him and he moved even closer. He observed her a little longer and with Sarah not moving he scuttled away and disappeared back to the Underground.

Back in the castle the little goblin rushed to the throne room ready to give his master the information he was sent to fetch as usual. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door. 

“Your highness, I watched the girl again just like you told me to” the goblin sheepishly said to the lean figure standing almost in silhouette at the window. The nails on his little gnarled feet clicking against the stone as he came into the room after leaving Sarah’s house made enough noise to announce his arrival. The man’s back was to him so he had no way to read his facial expression and he never turned around until a few moments after he spoke. It felt like it took forever for him to be acknowledged which made the little creature nervous. Long silence from his king usually wasn’t a good thing.

“Yes?” the dark figure spoke finally turning around, his face pale against the mane of fair hair framing a slightly annoyed but anxious face.

“And what was Sarah doing?” he asked. 

The goblin shrugged and prepared to give him the exact details as he had many other times. “Same thing as the last twenty times you asked me to look in on her. Nothing.” He could repeat it verbatim.

Jareth glared sharply. “Is that sarcasm, coming from YOU Pyewackett ? I could bog you for that you know”.

Instantly the goblin cowered. “Not being mean Highness. I always do what you ask me to.” He eyed the door hoping Jareth was done and he could make a quick escape. “Can I go now?”

“You may go”. Jareth dismissed him with a wave of his hand but before Pyewackett got completely out of the room, hand on the doorknob he said. “Maybe YOU go see her yourself.” He paused. “This time she call your name. She not say it before. Misses you maybe?”. He didn’t give Jareth time to respond before bolting out of the door and out of his king’s sight.

‘Perhaps I should go Aboveground’ he thought. Looking into crystals hardly ever worked anymore so he had to resort to sending one of his servants to keep an eye on her and report promptly back to him. This went on for the past several years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarah shook her head bringing herself out of the daze, wondering why she even said his name in the first place and out of the blue too? It’s not like she was in love with him or anything – or at least she didn’t think so. Why was she even thinking about him it had been so long ago since she had seen him. It was what, almost 10 years ago? He crossed her mind at times like this, when she had ample opportunity to just sit and daydream for hours. 

She focused her gaze back out of the window. If the snow wasn’t falling too heavily later she’d be able to see some of the neighboring houses that were already lit up and decorated for Christmas with twinkle lights. Maybe she should turn on some music and put up her tree and some decorations to get into the Christmas spirit while the snow was falling? It sounded like an absolutely perfect idea to clear her mind! 

Blowing the steam rising from the cup to cool the lava-hot liquid a little, she took a sip, savoring the rich chocolate flavor and the freshness of the mint spirits. The marshmallows melted perfectly on top and stuck to her upper lip giving her a sticky mustache. She licked off the lusciously decadent sweetness and set the mug down, walking over to the large hall closet to pull out the large red and green plastic boxes and the huge tub with the tree. Pretty soon the floor was littered with lights and ornaments to be put on the branches on the tree. As the radio was playing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” she decorated, dancing and humming along to the music. When her drink was gone, she decided to have a glass of wine which would give her less of a sugar overload and be more for sedation.

An hour and a half, a change of music and about 2 very large glasses of cabernet later the tree was up. Each item was placed in a certain order on the branches despite the woozy effects of the wine she had consumed. Even though she was feeling a little drunk she was still a perfectionist, no doubt about that! The tree looked like it came off of a freaking Hallmark Christmas card and she giggled at herself for being such a stickler. No wonder she never had any dates. They never measured up to her high standards! Now she had to clean up the mess that was all over the place. Maybe afterwards she’d take a little nap and sleep off the wine.

Picking up the last of the boxes and shoving them to the back of the closet a tinkling sound came from behind her, like the sound of a glass ornament rolling on the floor (or possibly a fairy’s laugh - knowing exactly what that was like from actually hearing one before). Come to think of it, she heard that sound occasionally ever since she moved in here. Strange. Bending over she looked under the tree and saw that there was nothing that had fallen. There was maybe a little glitter on the floor but that was it and it could have come off of the ornaments. Shaking her head she laughed it off and grabbed the broom, promptly sweeping it up. 

“I’m hearing things that’s all. It IS an older house after all and there aren’t any scary monsters hiding in shadows” she said out loud to convince herself to not be afraid. “If I can’t see it or touch it, then it’s nothing to worry about”. 

Seconds later something scurried past the tree just slightly out of her sight but the almost noiseless movement only caught her peripheral vision. 

‘Damn, please tell me I don’t have mice’ she thought. This had to have been bigger than a mouse though, so she got on her hands and knees on the hardwood floor to see what it was and didn’t find the source of the noise. Well there goes the catnap because as long as there was a mouse, or whatever it was, loose in her house she was keeping one eye open!

The noise had halted at least for the last hour or so and she pushed it to the back of her mind forgetting about it, deciding to have some more wine. She felt a little warm and by now her cheeks were getting a bit flushed with a rosy glow after her second glass. It was going on 5 O’clock and the skies were darkening even more than they normally would at that time. The snow was still falling quietly but not at such a furious pace as before, just a steady stream of lazy snowflakes. There had to be at least seven inches on the ground by now. Some neighbors houses started to come alight, casting beautiful multicolor shadows on the snow banked against the trees and houses. The beauty of it never ceased to amaze her. While she was looking out the window the tinkling noise caught her ear and it was again coming from the direction of the tree.

Looking again there seemed to be a copious amount of glitter on the floor by the tree, not just under it that wasn’t there before. There was a trail now leading to her bedroom.

She grabbed the broom she had brought in while cleaning up the decorating mess and held it in front of her as a weapon and tiptoed towards her room almost stumbling over her feet.


	2. In Vino Veritas

Sarah reached inside the doorway to find the light switch on the wall and unfortunately couldn’t and the room remained pitch black. A voice came from about no more than a few feet from her and it made her jump swinging the broomstick at an invisible target.

“You’re holding your weapon all wrong if you plan on doing any damage to an intruder”. The owner of the voice that was sinfully smooth as silk stepped forward and she sucked her breath in recognizing him right away and it startled her. She had to squint to focus on him though. Damn the wine!

“You’ll never get the first strike in.” he continued.

“You! What are YOU doing here?” She hiccupped when she said it. It was hard to believe he was standing right there in front of her after what, about ten years? This HAD to be a dream. Apparently she still had quite a bit of alcohol in her system so she had to be hallucinating. Well if that was the case, she was in control of it and decided that since this was all in her mind to have a little fun with him. Why not, he did the same thing to her when she ran his labyrinth!

Feeling full of herself she put her hand on her hip and said “You gonna clean up the mess you made? That’s a LOT of glitter on my nice, clean floor there buddy!”. She hiccupped again which caused her body to spasm making the broom drop to the floor. She giggled because apparently it was funny, but only to her. 

“Sarah, are you drunk?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

She held her thumb and index finger in front of her face as if measuring an inch space. “Mmm, maybe just a little” her words were slightly slurred and she giggled again. “I’m hallucinating that’s for sure”. She poked his chest. “You’re here aren’t you though so I made this up BUT you’re NOT real. I’m either dreaming you or I’m crazy”

“I can assure you that you’re not either one”. He looked amused.

“Oh yeah, well prove it then” she said stepping forward. “Kiss me then”. Alcohol made her very brave at that moment. She never was that uninhibited normally.

“Kiss you?” he said. “Really Sarah? I would never expect to hear that from you.”

“Yeah” She tilted her head up to his, eyes slightly closed, lips slightly parted. “Oh wait! Shouldn’t we have mistletoe first? You know since we’re dream kissing?”

“Is it a necessary requirement for a kiss?” he asked. 

“For a Christmas kiss, absolutely!” she said, hiccupping again. “Awww, wait, I don’t have any. I never got any before the snow came. Make some!” she demanded. “You’re good at that magic stuff! Remember you did make a snake out a scarf and just threw it on me!”

With a flip of his hand he held a huge stem of it by the ribbon tied around it in front of her face and she took it from him holding it over his head.

“OK I’m going to kiss you now” she said leaning in to him.

“No, first I have to ask you something.” Jareth said seriously tilting her chin up to him.

“What do you want me to say?” she asked.

“I want you to answer my question. Do you miss me? I mean really miss me after all this time?” He knew she’d be honest with him. Wine was like a truth serum.

“WHY do you want to know?” she asked curiously, slyly smiling at him teasingly.

“Humor me Sarah”. He already knew she did or else she wouldn’t have called out his name.

She sighed. “Yeah, I do. I think sometimes I made a serious mistake back then, you know....not choosing you. Too late now though right?” she said shrugging her shoulders. “The whole ‘you have no power over me’ thing?”

She still was convinced it wasn’t real. “I’m gonna wake up tomorrow, probably with a super huge headache and you won’t be here. See...a dream!”

“It’s never too late when it comes to destiny.” he replied, winking at Sarah.

“Destiny?” she questioned. 

“You don’t understand it right now. The timing is not right at the moment but you’ll be ready soon and I’ll be back I promise. I’ve waited all this time, a little longer won’t kill me.” He added for emphasis “AND I know now exactly what I came to find out. I had to see for myself instead of sending out someone to tell me”

OK, so that explained the noises she had been hearing. He sent his little minions to spy on her! She should be mad but for some reason now she wasn’t.

“Ok, so what are you going to do then?” she asked. It sounded like a dare to him. 

She barely got the question out and he lowered his mouth to hers capturing it in a deep kiss. It was so passionate that her whole world just melted away and she wrapped her arms around him returning his kiss. She been kissed before but not like this. It just felt right and it took her by surprise. She would have went with him anywhere at that moment. Maybe he was what she had been missing in her life. 

“I love you Jareth” she whispered surprising herself at her confession and that was the last thing she remembered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Sarah woke up and was about to be convinced that it was not real and that she had been on a total bender. No more wine for her for a LONG time! She felt really disappointed and sad that it never happened and her eyes started to well up……….until she saw the piece of mistletoe on the pillow beside her with a royal blue ribbon tied around the stem. There was also a large amount of glitter scattered beside her on the bed that obviously someone slept on. It was NOT a dream.


End file.
